Welcome back Nicky!Best of luck to the brave K9 team of Sgt. Eric Kerns and his police dog Nicky. They’re back on the job together after Nicky suffered serious knife wounds during an incident last month. You can really tell that Nicky is overjoyed to be back on duty!

A Las Vegas police K9 officer was shot and killed Thursday — just three weeks after he returned to duty following a machete attack that had sidelined him for a month.

Nicky, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois, was killed in the line of duty when his human partner, Sgt. Eric Kerns, was involved in a confrontation with an armed man about noon (2 p.m. ET) Thursday, Las Vegas police Capt. Shawn Anderson said.

A dead man and woman were later discovered in a nearby home; police described them as homicide victims. The suspect was shot, as well, and was being treated at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, Anderson said. His condition wasn’t disclosed.